Source Credibility of Company-produced and User-Generated Content on the Internet: An Exploratory Study on the Filipino Youth

Abstract

This study explores the Filipino youth's perception of source credibility of Company-Produced Content (CPC) and User-Generated Content (UGC) on the Internet. CPC advertisements have content that is controlled by the company, while UGC creations are owned and managed by users not related to the firm. Results from a paired samples t-test (n=120) suggest that the youth find UGC sources such as bloggers, video uploaders, and forum posters more credible than companies, despite being personally unknown or unrelated to the user. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.